Carrie,
I like that you are asking important questions and admitting that you do not understand precisely what is happening with the weather and the climate. I am not an expert in this area either, so I admire and appreciate those who are spending countless hours using their training and talents to find the answers for us all.

Perhaps the ready availability of pseudo scientific information on the web, and a lack of training regarding how to conduct research and find credible information, are at the root of the fear-based, passionate argument I see so often in online forums.

We've had an unusually cold winter and more snow as well in OK. Last summer was very hot and dry. Regardless of what is causing all of this, we will all have to change the ways in which we live. We will adapt, or we will die, and life will go on.

The longer I live, the less wound up I become over even the most important of issues. My response is to carefully read what the experts have to say and make decisions regarding my own actions based on that research and my own conscience. I'm as politically active as ever, but I choose my battles--and where I fight them--much more carefully now.